Customer Success Story
Goodrich

An Airplane Reborn — Goodrich beats competition using Deltek Open Plan™

The Challenge

Many major companies rely on Goodrich for comprehensive aircraft maintenance. The overhaul procedure—known in the industry as D-check—comprises 2,500 sub-jobs spread across 20 different work groups operating 24/7. During this time, the airframe, wings, tail, and landing gear are dismantled, cleaned and overhauled, along with the cabin and cargo holds. All instruments are taken out, inspected, and if necessary, repaired or replaced. If enhancements have been made since the aircraft was built, those will be added. Almost a month later, when the aircraft noses its way out of the hangar, it is ready to take to the skies.

The entire process used to take Goodrich 37 days to complete. However, it needed a faster and more efficient way to complete structural overhauls on these aircraft. Their goal: to reduce the 37 day process to a 27-day turnaround.

The Solution

The airframe, wings, tail, and landing gear will be dismantled, cleaned, and overhauled, along with the cabin and cargo holds. All instruments will be taken out, inspected, and if necessary, repaired or replaced. If enhancements have been made since the aircraft was built, those will be added. Almost a month later, when the aircraft noses its way out of the hangar, it is ready to take to the skies.

This overhaul procedure (known in the industry as a D-check) comprises 2,500 sub-jobs spread across 20 different work groups operating 24/7. Many major companies rely on Goodrich for comprehensive aircraft fleet maintenance.

The Benefits

Before Goodrich implemented Open Plan in May of 2001, a D-check took 37 days. Today the company is well on its way to a 27-day turnaround.

That is especially impressive considering that half of the work scope is unclear until well into the project's fourth day. As sub-jobs are completed, critical path and priorities can change,often on a shift-by-shift basis.

“Our new 27-day schedule beats the competition,” says Bill Maltbie, Director of Goodrich's Integrated Business Teams. “Open Plan has allowed us to achieve our stringent standards of continual improvement.”

The first Goodrich Integrated Business Team (IBT) to implement Open Plan now enjoys the following benefits:

  • Because all sub-jobs are linked, the workflow follows the most effective sequence. Critical activities — ones that can make or break a project's schedule — are given top priority.
  • Maintenance personnel can easily determine priorities and manpower requirements when assigning work.
  • Managers use Open Plan to allocate material, tooling, and engineering resources.
  • The people working on the aircraft generate duration estimates. (Before Goodrich implemented Open Plan, this process was controlled solely by management personnel.)
  • Immediate electronic notification to all senior-level leadership notifying when an aircraft is off of its Open Plan schedule creates faster follow-up time from all support organizations.

Once Goodrich saw the efficiencies that resulted from using Open Plan, the company rolled out the software to more teams. To get the most from the tool, Goodrich formed an Open Plan team whose seven members work closely with the IBTs. Each Integrated Business Team now has key individuals assigned to administer Open Plan.

“This tool already has proven itself to be the pivotal system that we are building our future on,” says Bob Butz, IBT director.

Goodrich plans to expand its use of Open Plan for the following purposes:

  • To speed the pre-draw and staging of parts and tooling
  • To dovetail scheduling with the engineering systems
  • To integrate scheduling and labor collection data
  • To deliver project status reports to customers via the Web

Open Plan and the application of Lean tools have reduced the span time of some tasks by as much as 50 percent, using the same man power and duration estimates as in the former scheduling system.

Goodrich achieved especially dramatic results with an aircraft project check using Open Plan. This aircraft job was originally scheduled to take 13 days.

The original Open Plan schedule called for completing the job in eight and a half days. After the aircraft arrived, however, the customer added a 24-hour job to the work scope. Even so, the aircraft was delivered in ten days, the first time this work scope has been completed so quickly.

The ability of Open Plan to reduce turn time without compromising quality is “like loading a moving truck,” explains Cindy Shelton, a former IBT lead who is now a core member of the Open Plan team. “If you stack the box carefully, you can get a much larger load.”

Print this page